Catching up with Nirvana and Batman

It’s a little bit odd coming to grips with just how long ago Nirvana was, but right now, as Universal Music readies a 20th anniversary edition of the band’s landmark album, “In Utero,” it’s hard to deny the band has passed into the “classic” zone. In retrospect, this is what all those Beatles fans I knew in the ‘80s told me I’d feel.

According to Spin, the re-release will feature “more than 70 (yes, 70) remastered, remixed, rare, and live recordings taken from the legendary band's latter days. One treasure that's being dusted off is a DVD capturing the alt-rock icons' Live and Loud concert, filmed on December 13, 1993 at Seattle's Pier 48 for an MTV broadcast. The disc will be packaged into the Super Deluxe Edition of the In Utero retrospective and will also be issued as a standalone release on September 24 via Universal Music.”

For more information, and to hear a kicking live version of the band’s “Scentless Apprentice,” visit SPIN here.

Bat signals
Late-night comedian Jimmy Fallon got actor Ben Affleck to open up about his upcoming role as Batman … and more particularly, the collective Internet freakout that came with the announcement.

“So I saw the announcement,” says Affleck, “I looked on a website and the first comment just said 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!’”

What I find interesting is the revelation that studios now brace the actors who are taking on these roles for the blowback. Because fandoms are, evidently, that predictable. Which should be enough to make anyone second-guess themselves before conflating knee-jerk reactions with global apocalypse. But perhaps that’s too much to hope for.

And if you’re having a little trouble letting go of Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” series, there’s a fundraising campaign to film an unofficial fan-driven sequel. And really, the seven-minute sample is pretty fun:

Hard-core Batman fans will recognize most of those characters. (Victor D. Infante)